Kentucky planters are men of the largest en- 

 dowments; Nature in her gift to them has been 

 most lavish, and the princely fortunes which 

 they have acquired shows how well they have 

 benefited by her munificence. In manners 

 affable, and in benevolence unsurpassed, the 

 Kentucky planter gains the plaudits of all. He 

 is polite to both friend and foe, and possessed 

 with all of that polished manner which marks 

 the true gentleman, and especially all growers 

 of the "kingly plant." 



Ivig the product" 



Plug tobacco in its original form was created by back- 

 woodsmen, most probably in the Kentucky-Missouri 

 area. Curing barns were few and far between, factories 

 non-existent so far west in the early pioneer days— but 

 materials and tools for making a good chew were readily 

 available. 



Making it meant a little work. A small quantity of 

 tobacco leaves was wedged into a hole that had been 

 dug in a green maple or hickory log. The leaves had 

 been saturated with homemade apple or peach brandy. 

 The hole was then plugged. When the log was dry the 

 "cured" tobacco was removed. Quite logically, chewers 

 nicknamed the toothsome preparation "plug." Its use 

 spread throughout the backwoods areas for some time 

 before it was taken up by urban residents. 



By 1880 Kentucky, with 48 chewing tobacco factories, 

 ranked fifth in the national manufacture of plug, a com- 

 modity that had grown in popular favor since the period 

 of Andrew Jackson. The daily exercise of the jaw re- 

 quired for the full enjoyment of this tobacco sweetmeat 

 had developed some notable orators and a nation of 



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